The present invention relates generally to bearing assemblies having wear indicators, and more specifically, to bearing assemblies with wear indicators having a different hardness than the surrounding bearing structure to produce detectible and identifiable vibrations.
A wide variety of bearing assemblies are available for use in a seemingly endless number and types of machines. Bearing assemblies typically include at least two components that move relative to each other. For example, assemblies may include components which rotate or slide relative to another component. Wear and tear on bearing components, even those lubricated to facilitate relative movement, can ultimately lead to bearing failure. To prevent such failure, often it is desirable to detect and replace worn bearing members and components before catastrophic failure thereof.
Detecting bearing wear and/or replacing worn bearing components have taken a number of forms. For example, bearing assemblies may be manually disassembled or replaced at a predicted lifetime. Unfortunately, bearings that wear faster than predicted can fail prior to a scheduled repair or replacement. Bearings that wear slower than predicted may be replaced before the end of their useful life. For some bearings, physical or visual inspection will suffice. Clearly, however, such inspections provide little assistance when the bearing to be evaluated is out of view or buried within surrounding equipment. Such inspections also may be time consuming or unnecessarily interrupt operation of the machine containing the bearing.
The measurement of vibrations may also be used to determine when maintenance is required on mechanical systems. However, vibration analysis is not always effective in providing a signal prior to catastrophic device failure because excessive wear can occur under conditions where detectible and identifiable vibrations do not arise.